Muslims Furious After What Israelis Just Did to Islamic Holy Site at the Temple Mount

Anybody that has paid even a modicum of attention to the perpetually conflicted Arab-Israeli relations knows that access and control of the major holy sites in Jerusalem are a major focal point of that conflict.

The city of Jerusalem is considered vitally important to the three major monotheistic religions, but most especially to Jews because of the Temple Mount and to Muslims because of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock shrine located right next to it.

Muslims have recently tried to assert control over the entirety of the holy sites, including the Temple Mount, and forbid non-Muslims from entering or worshiping there, much as they keep their holy sites in Saudi Arabia, Mecca and Medina off-limits to non-Muslims.

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But according to The Jerusalem Post, the Israelis have put their foot down and pushed back, refusing to cede access to and control of their holiest site to Muslims.

“The idea that what was done in Saudi Arabia — where two cities holy to Islam, Mecca and Medina, are sites where only Muslims have the right to enter — will be done on the Temple Mount is a distorted idea that we will not let happen,” declared Avi Dichter, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

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“We will respect the sanctity of al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and will stand up for our rights on the Temple Mount,” he added.

The Isreali defense of the Temple Mount sparked outcry from Muslims recently when a group of Jewish settlers paid a visit to the holy site, a visit that was falsely portrayed by Arab media as a “vicious” “storming” of the mosque in order to perform their “Talmudic rituals.”

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But that never happened, and the Israeli police who maintain order at the Temple Mount kept the Jewish visitors in line with a host of restrictions largely designed to prevent them from “offending” their Muslim neighbors by openly practicing their own faith at their own holy site.

Sadly, it would appear as if the United Nations is standing on the side of the Muslims, with UNESCO adopting a resolution earlier this year that essentially dismissed the extensive Jewish historical connection to the Temple Mount, effectively handing the entire area over to the Muslims.

“Recently, there has been a growing tendency calling for the ‘defense’ of al-Aqsa,” Dicter said, according to The Jerusalem Post. “This defense has grown a great deal, and from the mosque on the southern part of the Temple Mount, they are now talking about the whole area of the Temple Mount. Israel will not let this happen.”

Israel has every right to make a stand and lay claim to the Temple Mount, as it truly is Judaism’s holiest site, as it is the location of the vaunted First and Second Temples of Israelite history.

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As such, the Muslims have no right to lay claim to the entire area, and have no business telling Jews that they can’t enter their own Temple Mount to practice and express their faith as they see fit.

Please share this on Facebook and Twitter to help spread the word that the Israelis are refusing to cede access and control of the holy Temple Mount site to Muslims who demand it be off-limits to everyone but them.

What do you think of the stand the Israelis are taking?Scroll down to comment below!